Your Economy (No Politics)

[Bullwinkle]

NY Empire State manufacturing index climbs in March
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 4:35:38 PM
http://www.fxstreet.com


FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – Manufacturing activity in New York has grown in March to its highest level in more than year, with a jump in the number of employees, has showed today the New York Federal Reserve.
The bank's Empire State Manufacturing index has climbed to 31.2 points in March, its highest level since in July 2004 (34.69), from a revised 21.0 in February.

Economists predicted that the Empire State index would fall to 18.5 in March, readings over zero indicate expansion. New orders have risen to 29.2 points in March from 27.1 in February. The indexes for shipments and unfilled orders have gotten their highest level in more than a year.

The employment component of the index has risen robustly to 21.75 in March from an upwardly revised 5.99 in February. The average employee workweek has also risen to 25.29 this month from an upwardly revised 5.47 in February.

"Across every skill category listed, respondents to the 2006 survey reported substantially more difficulty in finding workers than did respondents in 2005," the New York Fed has commented in a statement.

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